National 0umptoms. 



DISCOURSE 



PREACHED IN THE 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, NEW HAVEN, 



ON THE 



Ban of tlje %\mu\ State iast, 



APRIL 18, 1862. 



BY S. D. PHELPS, 

PiSTOE OF THK (:Hi:u<:n 



NEW YORK: 

SHELDON & COMPANY, 335 BROADWAY. 

NEW HAVEN : THOMAS H. PEASE. 

I 86-2. 



National 0iimptont0. 



DISCOURSE 



PREACHED IN THE 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, NEW HAVEN, 



§ni| of % |.unn;il ^t;ite ^fast 



APRIL 18, 1862. 



BY S. D. PHELPS, 



PASTOR OF THE CHURCH 



NEW YORK: 

SHELDON & COMPANY, 335 BROADWAY, 

NEW HAVEN : THOMAS H. PEASE. 

1862. 






CORRESPONDENCE. 



New Haven, Mai/ llth, 18G2. 
Rev. S. D. Phelps, D. D. 

Dear Sir : — The undersigned, most of wliom liad the pleasure of 

listening to your highly interesting and patriotic Discourse delivered 

on the late State Fast Day, would respectfully solicit a copy of the 

same for publication, 

G. 0. SUMNER, 

M. MOULTHROP, 

OHAS. CARLISLE, 

D. S. COOPER, 

S. M. WIER, 

N. W. MOORE, 

H. KILLAM, 

^ F. R. BLISS, 

7 L JAMES FAIRMAN. 



; 



New Haven, May 20, 1862. 
Gentlemen : — ^The Sermon whose publication you have had 
the kindness to solicit, was prepared for its occasion in addition to 
the usual labors of the week, and without a thought of its being 
printed. I submit it as it was delivered — a minute entered on the 
record of our remarkable times — without the change of a sentence, 
and with only here and there a verbal alteration. 
Yours, very truly, 

S. D. PHELPS. 
G. 0. Sumner, M. D., and others. 



NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. 



Isaiah xxi. 11, 12. — fVakhman, what of Oie night? The watchman said. The morning 
Cometh, and also the night. 

A YEAR of civil war in our county we never expected to 
witness. But it is now a matter of experience and Iiis- 
tory. Twelve months ago the present week, were heard 
those first awful sounds that swept through a shudder- 
ing land, and stirred the hearts of the people as nothing 
else had ever done. Sumter bombarded — Sumter 
fallen — the President's proclamation for seventy-five 
thousand volunteers to defend the Capital, and aid in 
suppressing the rebellion — the rush to arms of the 
patriots of the ISTorth — the insolent boasts of rebel lead- 
ers in the South — the bloody scene in the streets of Bal- 
timore : — these events are all fresh in every memory, 
and can never fade. And what a year of history, of 
trial, of fear and hope, they ushered in ! Can it be that 
only a year has passed since those events startled us ! 
It seems sometimes, in the occurrences and changes 
intervening, that we must have lived almost an age 
since then. What volumes of history have been made 
in the meantime ! 

A year ago, I improved the occasion of the State Fast 
in a discourse from the words of the prophet Joel : (ii. 2) 
"A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds 



4 NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. 

and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the 
mountains ; a great people and a strong : there hath not 
been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, 
even to the years of many generations," It seemed 
prophetic, and it was. The war had not then broken out, 
as the Fast was three weeks earlier than this year ; but 
the sky was all clouded over, and the thunder ready to 
burst. The gloomy night was at hand, and we have 
been passing through its darkness and sorrow. And 
now standing at the end of this eventful year, there 
seems to be a voice calling as in the text : "AVatchman, 
what of the night ?" 

The night we have been passing through had been 
long gathering. Many did not see it — did not believe 
it would come — thought the clouds would be blown 
away. Others had their profound fears, their sad appre- 
hensions. They saw causes at work, positions taken, 
landmarks abandoned, compacts broken, human rights 
and Divine law so outraged, that retribution, the day of 
visitation, and national humiliation, and the judgments 
of Heaven, were ere long expected. Some great and 
awful disaster seemed approaching. The mutterings of 
the coming storm, the rumblings of the distant thunder 
were heard. 

When one is out on mid-ocean during a cold, foggy, 
tempestuous day, tossed on the angry M^aves, and you 
can scarcely see the length of the ship — how gloomy, 
how foreboding is the coming on of night ! You know 
it must come — it is inevitable — its deep shadows are 
gathering — its dark shroud ftills around you, and there 
is no relief in clear sky, sweet star, or blessed moon. 
It is an oppressive reality, that you cannot help, nor 



NATIONAL SYiirTOMS. 



escape. Such was the gathering of the niglit, the sluit- 
ting down of tiie gloom, in our political horizon some- 
thing over a year ago — during the latter part of the last 
and the opening of the present administrations. Treason 
was ripening and going to seed. Traitors had every 
thing their own way — strangling the government with 
scarcely a rebuke, certainly with no earnest effort to 
repel, stop or punish the daring iniquity. Oaths vio- 
lated — the Flag dishonored — the Union broken. O it 
was a terrible darkness that was falling upon us ! 

The night went on. Cloud on cloud passed over or 
hung darkly in our sky. Thunders broke amid the 
gloom, and lightning gleamed wildly over the scene. 
How we longed for the morning ! and how it was 
delayed ! AVhat fears — with gleams of hope now and 
then like a silver lining to the clouds — oppressed us ! 
The war deepened, and the evidences of its dread reality 
every where met us. The daily drill ; the passing- 
troops ; friends enlisting ; regiment after regiment mov- 
ing off to the scenes of action ; battles ; defeats ; disas- 
ters and blunders ; the taunts and scorn of foreign na- 
tions, joined by traitors at home ; friends fallen, and 
sorrow and tears at many a desolate fireside — ah ! these 
were scenes and experiences early in the year that can 
never be adequately described. 

" Watchman, what of the night ? Foreboding, inevit- 
able, gloomy, awful, and almost hopeless ! Yet it was 
necessary. AVe deserved it. Our nation was guilty in 
God's sight — proud, boastful, corrupt, devoted to Mam- 
mon, losing its patriotism, its virture, its liberties even ; 
and nothing but the discipline of chastisement, humilia- 
tion, and sufferings, seemed adequate to restore its man- 



b NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. 

liooclj and bring it to an appreciation of its goodly herit- 
age. It is in this workl a part of the order of Divine 
Providence to purify and strengthen by trial ; to bring 
good out of evil, and life from death. Pure air and 
bright flowers are born of storms. 

" The night is mother of the clay, 
The winter of the spring ; 
And ever npon old decay, 
The greenest mosses cling." 

So we believe a New and brighter Day will spring from 
this National night of ours. Its symptoms already ap- 
pear. Its streaks of dawn gild the horizon. The first 
anniversary of the war comes with events as startling as 
those that marked its beginning, and far more pro- 
pitious. 

"What of the night? The Avatchman said, The 
morning cometh, and also the night." Yes, there is a 
morning to break upon this terrible night, ushering in a 
glorious day. There is a night also coming, in which 
the daring and wicked treason and its abettors shall 
be involved and overwhelmed. Their " day" of hope 
and prospect of success already " goeth away, and the 
shadows of evening are stretched out," and their cry 
must soon be, " AVoe unto us !" "What then are some 
of these better National Symptoms ; these indications of 
a coming day of blessing, peace, and more enduring 
prosperity? 

I recognize it in a newly awakened spirit of Patriot- 
ism. A beneficent government can truly live and pros- 
per only in the respect and affections of the people. 
While the Revolutionary Fathers were with us, and we 



NATIONAL SYMrTOMS. i 

heard from them the story of the struggles, trials and 
sacrifices endured to establish our independence, the fire 
of our patriotism was fanned, and our love of liberty 
was strong. But with their departure, and our unpar- 
alleled national growth and wealth, and great facilities 
for personal advancement and profit, many had almost 
forgotten the cost and value of their civil privileges, 
and scarcely dreamed that they could ever be seriously 
endano;ered. Tiie Government was too much left to 
itself, or rather to the management of designing and am- 
bitious politicians. One point was yielded here and 
another there, rather than injure trade or party interests. 
But now all this is changed. When at length Treason 
struck down the Flag, the old slumbering spirit of 
patriotism inherited from our fathers was roused, and 
the people of the Free States, and at length many of the 
Border, rose in their majesty to defend the Constitution 
and the country. This wonderful uprising of united and 
earnest millions in support of their imperiled institu- 
tions is one of the grandest exhibitions in the history of 
nations. It was like an inspiration from God, and with 
His blessing, it will at length utterly crush the rebel- 
lion. 

I also see the coming of the New Day of peace and 
prosperity', in the sublime Patience of an excited and 
restless people. "When disaster followed disaster, and 
we scarcely knew in whom to repose confidence ; when 
no definite policy seemed to characterize our leaders ; 
when our movements, from inexperience in Avar, and 
the \vant of its material, were tardy and apparently 
inefficient, as we came in contact with the foe — still, 
the people, with a commendable tenacity of endurance, 
" learned to labor and to wait." There were no mobs. 



NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. 



110 riots, no mutinies ; but a disposition to abide by the 
councils and plans of tliose in authority — even when 
personal liberties were abridged, and some despotic cus- 
toms were resorted to for the public safety. Such were 
the inherent love of law and practical obedience to 
those in authority, that the people endured, toiled, an^ 
hoped on, with a steadfast faith in the Government and 
its ultimate triumph, believing that our institutions 
would emerge from this temporary eclipse, and shine 
even with a brighter luster than before. This law- 
abiding stability is full of promise and hope. 

Another favorable symptom was a wide sense of 
Ilurailiatlon and Dependence on God. Our pride was 
humbled — our prestige had waned — our boasting and 
vain-glorying had received a most decided check. At 
home and abroad, we were no longer what we had 
been, and the departing of our glory was most keenly 
felt. Yet we had erred and sinned against God by our 
arrogant spirit, and our self-importance and supposed 
invincibility. We had now a painful sense of our weak- 
ness, and the lesson was salutary. In a good degree our 
humiliation was that which precedes a better and more 
truly exalted spirit. We were led to look to God. 
Rulers and people humbled themselves before Him, and 
He has begun to lil't us up. Our shame is passing 
aM'ay. Our enemies at home and abroad are better ap- 
preciating our character and purposes, and changing 
their tone in regard to us. To be led to feel our de- 
pendence on God, and to trust more implicitly in Him, 
and more earnestly seek His favor and merciful inter- 
position, is a good and most valuable lesson, though 
learned in a school of self-abasement and severity. If 



NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. 9 

God be on our side, ^ve shall pass safely throngli the 
conflict, and even be blessed b^- it. 

I behold the dawn of a Better Day in the o-atherino- 
Resources and Indomitcible Bravery of our hardy and in- 
dustrious people. Left in a partially impoverished and 
defenceless state, by the traitors when they abandoned 
their places in the Government for *lie purpose of more 
eftectually destroying it — without a navy at hand or an 
army, or a treasury — yet how astonishing have been 
our resources ! How soon was an army raised, the 
finest the world has ever seen, and abundant munitions 
supplied ! How efi'ectiv^e has been our Xavy ! How 
fruitful our means for maintaininq; all these raao-nifi- 
cent preparations for our defence, and for recovering the 
revolted States ! All the prophecies of home and for- 
eign foes have been proved false; and the world looks 
on in astonishment at the resources and abilities of our 
loyal, patriotic and liberty-loving people ; and that 
world is now learning important lessons — and will soon 
doubtless more rapidly learn them — of the inherent 
value and mighty power of republican institutions. If 
a free government is on its trial, it is not that the " bub- 
ble may burst," but that the precious boon may appear 
the more precious and take a deeper hold on the minds 
of men, while old tottering aristocracies and oppressions 
shall appear the more odious by the contrast. Our 
hardy and enterprising people show their power, under 
God, to resist their overbearing enemies, and to vindi- 
cate their rights and privileges before the world. Never 
before in so short a period were such vast capabilities 
shown. 

God signals the coming Morn by His manifest Inter- 
jjositions in our behalf. Time would fail to enumerate 



10 NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. 

tlie instances where the Divine Hand has been most dis- 
tinctly interposed to aid or defend us. Who shall say 
that lie did not permit our severest reverses to come 
upon us as blessings in disguise ? Did we not need just 
the lessons they taught? — just the discipline they fur- 
nished ? Did not good come out of them ? Did they 
not lead us to a better knowledge of the foe, and of our 
necessities to successfully resist and conquer, as well as 
to lead ns to trust less in man and more in God ? How 
graciously has the Lord of Hosts dealt with us in our 
protection when most exposed ! Twice might the Capi- 
tal have been taken by the enemy with comparative 
ease — ^just before the troops arrived after the first proc- 
lamation of the President, and immediately after the 
disgraceful rout at Bull Run. But God held that enemy 
in check. How mercifully He preserved our fleets in 
those awful storms to which they were exposed on the 
way to Port Royal and Roanoke ! It is a marvel that 
there were no more disasters. The rebels prayed for 
their destruction by the wind and the sea ; and when 
the tempests appeared, they thought their prayers were 
answered. The safety and success of our fleets under 
such circumstances, should have been an impressive re- 
buke to the traitors, and should have inspired profound 
gratitude on our part for so signal a Divine protection. 
Tliree striking instances of Providential interposition 
are of more recent occurrence. Who does not plainly 
see God's hand in having the Monitor arrive at Hamp- 
ton Roads at the very moment she did? Had she been 
a day later — had the Merrimac been allowed to come 
out a day sooner — who can tell how much more disas- 
trous might have been the result? or how incalculable 
mi>i-ht liave been the mischief of the rebel monster ! She 



NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. H 

had in one day shown her capabilities for aAvful devasta- 
tion, and only waited through the night to resume her 
terrible work in the morning, when she was unexpect- 
edly met and repulsed by the little Monitor, that like 
another David engaged and more than matched the 
huge Goliath. The rise and overflow of the Mississippi, 
allowing transports to be taken below island Number 
Ten, and the river falling the day after this was done, so 
that it would then have been impracticable, is a clear 
manifestation, wdth the remarkable results that followed, 
of special Divine fiivor. So, in the battle at Pittsburs 
Landing, how near our army came of utter defeat ! The 
rebel leader saw his opportunity, and desecrated the 
Sabbath to secure his object. Had he made the attack 
a day sooner, as he intended, the result must have been 
most disastrous to us. It was our reinforcements the 
second day that tarred the tide of victory and drove the 
enemy from the field. God interposed to save us ! We 
have had repeated illustrations " that the race is not to 
the swift, nor the battle to the strong ;" but that there 
is an over-ruling Providence in this conflict, directing 
and controlling its issues ; and hence how appropriate 
the orders of the Secretary of War, the President and 
our Governor, for prayers of thanksgiving last Sabbath 
to the Lord of Hosts for His signal interposition in our 
behalf! 

The morning cometh evidently, from the present 
aspects of the ever-perplexing Slavery question. There 
is now increasing hope of our ultimately becoming a free 
nation. Light gleams upon this problem, so diflicult of 
solution. I have always taken the liberty on suitable 
occasions, to speak on the subject of Slavery from the 
pulpit, as I thought the AYord of God and duty required. 



12 NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. 

I have always denounced it as contrary to the spirit of 
our holy religion and the Bible, and as detrimental and 
dangerous to our Government. In my first Fast-day 
Sermon, preached here seventeen years ago, on " Our 
Heritage, and the Dangers that Threaten it," (Joel ii. IT) 
I spoke of the system of slavery, as a sin against God 
and a great wrong to His creatures, and a growing evil 
that, unless it should be checked, threatened the over 
throw of our free institutions and the destruction of our 
Union. AVe see now what that system hab done, in this 
great and wicked rebellion undertaken in its interest. 
It has aspired to the supreme power in this country ; but 
,now, under God, it seems likely to fail utterly, and 
work its own overthrow, and at length eradication from 
the land. It has revealed its monstrous character, and 
committed suicide, we trust. How, but through this 
war, brought on by its own lust of dominion, could its 
power in our Government ever have been broken ! How, 
otherwise, would the national Capital and its precincts 
been freed from its curse and shame ? How else, that 
proposal for its gradual removal from the Border States 
at least, without compulsion or the infraction of any 
rights, been accepted? The Hand of God is evident 
here, and He is solving a question that has baffled the 
wisest of men, and removing the most terrible evil and 
foe of our country. I pity those who do not wish to see 
all just and lawful measures used to remove this tre- 
mendous curse from our land. This civil war, with all 
its horrors and sorrows, would not have been, but for 
the attempts to extend and practically enthrone this 
despotic oppression in our country. It is an honor to 
i)C an abolitionist in the sense of desiring its removal in 
a Christian and constitutional way. It is to be in the 



NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. 13 

company of Wasliington and other early patriots and 
Presidents of tlie Republic. 

Another benefit to result from the present conflict 
will be a hetter hnowledge at the South of the Northern 
character, purposes and enterprise. The presence of our 
armies in that section, their habits and appearance, and 
their grand object, the restoration of the Old Flag once 
loved by all, will break and dispel the illusions and 
falsehoods under which so many of the southern people 
labor. They see in our soldiers very different men, in 
intelligence, true manhood, and bravery, from what 
the}^ have been taught to believe. The acquaintance 
must be productive of good. Many of their soldiers, 
captured by our arms and brought north, will learn val- 
uable lessons. The rebels already disheartened, and 
paralyzed by their defeats at home and failure of sub- 
stantial sympaty abroad — many of them confessing 
their error in beginning the war — betokens the coming 
end of the struggle. Their failure will have a most 
beneficial effect on their own character, curing or cor- 
recting many of its serious defects, and leading them to 
better appreciate a good government. 

The expenses and taxation to which the loyal States 
must submit in consequence of the war, though severely 
felt for a while, may result in good. It will cure many 
foolish and ruinous extravagances into which our people 
were running. It will induce economical expenditures 
in the Government, as well as among individuals, and so 
prevent frauds and reform abuses. And wdien there are 
such vast natural resources as our country affords, with 
so rapid an increase of population and wealth, the bur- 
den will every year grow lighter, and ere long disap- 
pear. And while our precious institutions cost us some- 



14 



NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. 



tiling of sacrifice and means, tliey will perhaps be bet- 
ter appreciated and the more jealously guarded. 

Another beneficial result of this great struggle, in 
which so much of suffering and calamity are necessarily 
involved, will no doubt be a great increase of jjliysical 
and manly vigor in our people. We were said to be 
degenerating and becoming effeminate, through luxur}' 
and ease, and so less adapted to the great enterprizes 
which Providence seems to have reserved for this coun- 
try. Camp life has its exposures and vices ; and while 
some fall and die, others will become the hardier and 
stronger, both in physical endurance and in moral 
vigor. God had prepared thousands of our young men, 
by the great and blessed revival of religion of four years 
ago, for the scenes of this conflict ; and their discipline 
in it will make them moral and Christian heroes ; and 
the good and stalwart influences resulting will be felt for 
generations to come. We shall be made also a more 
homogeneous people by this war. National and sec- 
tional jealousies and prejudices will melt away, and 
Yankees, Germans, and Irish, eastern mechanics and 
western farmers, northern yeomen and border-state 
planters, will be Americans all, brought into closer 
sympathies and united by the mighty ties of patriotism, 
cemented on common battle-fields, and consecrated by 
common sacrifices and sufterings. Great and lasting, 
though dearly bought, will be this blessing. 

The final result, I doubt not, will be, that this night 
of trial and sorrows will precede a glorious day in 
which there shall be a imrer and more stable Jicpuhli- 
canisni in this country, a juster and fairer Liberty for 
all^ our Government emerging from the severe trial, 
surrounded with a brighter halo, the stars and stripes 



NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. 15 

all restored, the dear Banner having a new and more 
precious significance from its terrible baptism of blood, 
and finding in the hearts of all the people in every sec- 
tion a deeper and purer love and veneration, and claim 
ing abroad a respect hitherto unknown, as the symbol 
of a freedom and power that despots will more and 
more fear, and the aspirants for liberty will most 
sacredly cherish. The prophets of our downfall and 
imbecilit}^ will hide their heads in shame, and those who 
were our friends in adversity will receive due honor, 

A year ago the foundation of the Southern Confed- 
eracy was laid. Slavery was its acknowledged and 
boasted corner-stone. It was to grow, taking in at length 
all the South, tlie West, the Middle States, and con- 
temptuously excluding JSTew England from the New 
Dynasty that was to rule the Continent. New England 
men, institutions, and ideas were deemed unworthy to 
take part in this grand national drama ! But see what 
God hath wrouo-ht in one year ! O ve foolish and arro- 
gant builders! the stone -which ye disdainfully rejected, 
is fast becoming the head-stone of the corner! Never 
in our history were the spirit and principles of the Pil- 
grim Fathers, and their liberty-loving descendents, so 
prevalent in our land as to-day. It is represented in the 
hardy sons of the West, and makes its power felt in 
every battle on land and water, and in the controlling 
legislation of the country. The South itself is being 
colonized and regenerated by the North as the conse- 
quence of this war. AVashington City is renovtited, and 
now exhibits tlie enterprize and prosperity of northern 
cities. It is no longer a slave-pen, and a mere dead 
skeleton of giant proportions ; but takes on muscle, life 
and thrift, as becomes the heart of a great and free 



16 NATIONAL SYMPTOMS. 

nation. Tliis war, waged hy its instigators in the inter- 
est of linman bondage, has done more to break down 
that system, and has freed more slaves in one year, than 
all other agencies seemed likely to accomplish in a life- 
time. Indeed, slavery can never regain its former 
power, but must in time pass away, as utterly at vari- 
ance with the fundamental principles of our Eepublic 
and the moral sense of the civilized world, and no doubt 
abhorrent to God, who seems to be over-ruling the 
wrath of man for its overthrow. Let us this day grate- 
fully acknowledge Plis Hand and rule, and with humili- 
ation, fasting and prayer prostrate ourselves before Him 
and beseech the pardon of our individual and national 
sins, and still implore His gracious and signal interposi- 
tion in behalf of our beloved country. Let us be glad 
that the morning seems to be coming. The night of our 
trial and sorrow is passing, while the night of rebellion 
deepens in its abysmal gloom, and in which its leaders 
shall sink to rise no more. O blessed Day of death to 
Treason and Slavery, come ! O glorious Day of a 
brighter Liberty, and a freer Land, over all which the 
starry folds of our dear Banner shall wave in triumph 
and peace, come ! Come, O longed-for Day of Right- 
eousness, and thou conquering Prince of Salvation, come ! 

" Truth for every eye is shining, in the fullness of that day ; 
Joy and Hope, descended angels, rest, no more to pass away ; 
Freedom comes and lifts the captive from the dungeon of his woe, 
And all streams of mortal heing, deeper, purer, sweeter flow. 

" There the sword is hid in darkness, there the trumpet's piercing tone 
Wakes the quiet world no longer, when the blast of war is blown ; 
Peace unfurls her snowy banner, and by all the breezes fanned, 
Lo ! it waves in wondrous beauty, from the towers of the laud." 



LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 



II iijii i mill Hill 

012 609 257 A 



